


A war is brewing

by WiseDragonGirl (Verhalengrot)



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Army, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Bows & Arrows, Bromance, Death, Dragon Riders, Epic Battles, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Character Death, Pokémon on human violence, Strategy & Tactics, Swordfighting, War, pokemon battles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-06-08 04:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6838249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verhalengrot/pseuds/WiseDragonGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's peace in the country, the last war ended a year ago and everything has settled down again. A neighbouring country builds up their army again, consisting of both men and trained Pokémon. Will another war break out again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic will not take place in one of the known regions and normal animals are part of the world as well. Pokémon are viewed as the more intelligent animals and humans keep them as companions. Before we start with the story I will share with you a page from a history book. This took place about 150 years before the actual story and it will explain how Pokémon came to be in this world.
> 
> The Pokémon belong to the creator(s) of Pokémon, the original trainers belong to me. The world that was created for this fanfic belongs to me.

_The great war_

_Years ago there were six wizards, They were named Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos. Each of them wanted to rule the world and each of them took animals from their country to alter them so they could use them in battle. The wizards used ancient magic to give the power of the elements to animals, to make them smarter and able to understand human speech. They made them obedient to humans. Each of the wizards had their own army of altered animals, which they called Pokémon. Armies of soldiers commanded these creatures and heavy battles were fought out. Blood of human and Pokémon coloured the grass red and the war went on for years._

_A group of people, underlings from all the wizards, united. They had enough of the bloodshed and had found a way to call forth the spirit of the high wizard, the one who had taught the six wizards everything he knew about magic. When he learned what his disciples had done, he took them with him. The six wizards disappeared and with that the bloody war came to an end. The armies were disbanded and lands of the continent were divided in four. In each country a king was crowned and peace returned._

_The Pokémon were free to live in the lands after the war and they scattered. Most enjoyed their freedom and stayed away from humans, but some preferred to stay with the humans they knew. Even if they were made for battle, they proved to be faithful companions. It wasn't long until it was common practise to have a Pokémon companion. Some farmers choose to keep Miltank or Mareep instead of cows or sheep, even if most decided to stick with the animals they knew._

 


	2. The message

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I invented army ranks for this. From low to high it is: second commander, first commander, second major commander, first major commander and grand commander.

A man with short, blond hair and greyish-blue eyes was riding on horse towards the forest, a small Fletchinder followed him in the air. The city behind was getting smaller and smaller as he neared the first trees. He followed the paved path of the major road, but soon turned into an earth path which lead deeper into the forest. It wasn’t long before he reached a clearing in the forest and he halted at the edge of it, the Fletchinder landed on a branch of a nearby tree.

“Okay Anthony,” the man said as he dismounted from the horse. “Let’s see if he wants to talk with us.”

The Fletchinder nodded, letting out sounds of encouragement.

 

A Charizard, lying curled up in the grass, looked up when he heard someone approach. A large scar  was visible on his back, between his wings. The man got of from the horse and approached the Charizard.

“Bendul,” he greeted him. “Is the first commander home?”

A voice came from the house. “He isn’t a first commander anymore, Steve,” a man spoke from the doorway. His hair was short and chestnut coloured, his eyes brown with a hint of green in them and they focussed on his guest.

“Like it or not, sir,” Steve said. “That is still your rank.”

“I left the army, you can call me Trevor just like everyone else.”

Steve straightened his back. “With all due respect, sir, I don’t think I could.”

Trevor sighed and crossed the final distance between them. “Regardless,” he said to Steve as he took his shoulder in a friendly gesture. “It’s good to see you again. What brings you here?”

“I wish I could say it was just for catching up, but that’s not the case. I was stationed in a fortress at the border for the last year, but they sent me back to the capital city with a message. Our dear neighbour is planning to invade and the army has trained Pokémon to aid them in the battle.”

Trevor scowled when he heard that and glanced at his Charizard, who seemed to listen intently.

“It seems they are aided by their southern allies and they already invaded the country we thought for two years when they tried to invade us, but our second major commander is certain they will focus their attention on us as well.”

“That war only ended a year ago,” Trevor said as he started pacing around. “We’re not prepared for another one. Just like the Artorians aren’t. The Trialcia’s are taking advantage of our diminished forces.”

“That’s why we need every able man back in the army, sir,” Steve said carefully.

“I left that life behind me,” Trevor stated firmly.

“Second major commander Andrus told me I had to ask you after delivering his message to the grand commander.”

Trevor narrowed his eyes at Steve, who felt the urge to step back, but managed to remain where he was. “Tell Andrus he won’t be able to coerce me to come back.”

“I will tell him,” Steve promised. He reached inside the tunic he wore over his chainmail and handed Trevor a letter. “This is from the second major commander, he told me these aren’t orders, just a letter from one friend to another.”

Trevor looked at the folded piece of paper with suspicion, but reached out to take it nonetheless. When he heard the door creak he looked up and noticed a Bellossom came from the house. She let out a cheerful greeting as she danced towards the two men. Once she reached them, she put her hands on Steve’s legs and looked up with a happy smile.

“Who is this?” Steve asked.

“That is Kiri,” Trevor said. “I found her in the forest in this stage about six moons ago. I’m guessing she found a shiny stone and managed to evolve herself somehow.” He looked at the Bellossom, who waved at Steve and danced towards Bendul. She always seemed to be happy and dancing, but she was a valuable asset to the team. He turned his attention back to Steve. “How is Andrus?” he asked him.

“The second major commander is...himself,” Steve said after a moment of thinking. “He drives the first major commander crazy every time he comes to inspect the fortress.”

“And how was his message received?”

“Well...” Steve began, followed by a sigh. “The grand commander feels he’s worrying about nothing, but orders him to keep an eye on the situation just in case.”

Trevor shook his head when he heard that. “They should know Andrus knows what he is talking about. If he thinks there will be an invasion soon I would bet every single coin I have on that, even if other commanders don’t agree with him.”

Steve nodded to show he agreed to that. “We are preparing and hope the rest of the army will  prepare as well. At this moment we can’t do more than report the activity and the assumptions.” He looked up when he heard his Fletchinder say something. “Yes, we should be on our way again. The second major commander will be waiting for the reply and orders.” Steve saluted to Trevor. “Good day, sir.”

“Have a safe travel, Steve,” Trevor said. He watched how Steve went back to the horse and rode away again. He then turned to his Charizard, it seemed Kiri had made herself comfortable in the curve of his tail. Bendul and Trevor looked at each other in silence, until Trevor went back in his house. Bendul looked at the house a bit longer, before he lay his head in the grass and closed his eyes.


	3. To the fortress

A couple of hours after Steve had left the area, the door of Trevor’s house opened once more and Bendul looked up. It didn’t surprise the Charizard one bit to see him dressed in warm travelling clothes.

“Not a word,” Trevor warned his Charizard, who simply nodded to it.

Trevor walked around the house to gather some final items and Bendul continued to watch him in silence. By now Kiri had climbed up his back and watched him too. When Trevor was out of sight, Bendul turned his long neck to look at the Bellossom. She look up at him with big, curious eyes.

 _“Where are we going?”_ she asked Bendul.

 _“To the fortress,”_ Bendul replied calmly.

 _“Really?_ ” Kiri gasped with big eyes. _“He said he wouldn’t go!”_

 _“I knew we would go, he would never abandon his friend.”_ Bendul turned his head to the house again, waiting for Trevor to return.

 _“Yay, we’re going to travel!”_ Kiri exclaimed happily.

Bendul glanced briefly in the Bellossom’s direction, she was so innocent. _“You should stay here,”_ he told her.

_“But I want to come!”_

_“War is no game,_ ” Bendul told her. _“Trevor and I have seen it. It’s no place for you.”_

Kiri pointed her stubby arm at the Charizard. _“I will come! I want to help! If you won’t take me on your back, I will follow you on foot!”_

Bendul sighed, there was no arguing with her.

 

It didn’t take long before Trevor returned with a bag over his shoulder and a sword on his belt. He walked over to Bendul, who lowered himself without needing an order and allowed Trevor to climb on his back. Kiri settled herself in his lap.

“Bellossom!” she said cheerfully.

“You shouldn’t come,” Trevor said to her. “Stay here and guard the house.”

Kiri shook her head. She began an explanation in her language Trevor couldn’t understand, but he could see she was adamant.

“Fine,” he sighed. “You can come.”

“Bellossom!” she again said cheerfully.

“Let’s go.”

Bendul rose to his feet and spread his wings. After a few beats he lifted from the ground and carried both Trevor and Kiri into the air. The house below them grew smaller and smaller and Kiri waved to it as if she said goodbye to their house.

They flew above the trees of the forest, but it wasn’t long before Bendul spotted the main road. He went towards it so he could follow it, it was easier to keep track of the direction they had to fly in. Soon he spotted a man on a horse below and he dove down.

Steve looked up when a shade passed him from above and he smiled when he recognized Bendul.

“Were you planning on staying at the inn at the cross-section tonight?” Trevor called down to Steve.

“Yes sir!” Steve replied.

“I’ll see you there.”

“Yes sir!” Steve said again and he watched how Bendul flew up in the sky again.

***

The inn at the cross-section was frequently visited by all kinds of travellers and merchants. The main road connection one major trading city and the capital city was one of the two roads at the cross-section. The inn was well-kept, clean and well known for the roasted pork. When Steve arrived he noticed a Charizard lying in the grass with a Bellossom lying in the curve of his tail. He noticed how the Charizard looked at him.

“Hi there, Bendul,” Steve greeted him. “I made it.”

The Charizard nodded once and looked down at the Bellossom, who looked at Steve with unrestrained curiosity.

“Why don’t you stay with them?” Steve suggested as he looked at his Fletchinder.

The Fletchinder nodded and flew towards Bendul as Steve walked his horse to the stables so he could hand it over to one of the stable-boys there. After that he went inside the inn.

After looking around for a moment he noticed Trevor sitting at a table with two mugs of ale. He smiled a bit as he walked over to him.

“Can I join you, sir?”

“Of course you can,” Trevor said with a bit of a frown. “We’re travelling to the same place after all.”

Steve nodded and sat down. He took the mug and looked at Trevor, but he was unsure about what he could say to the man. It had been a while since he had last seen him and he was his commanding officer back then.

“How close will the fortress be to the upcoming battle?” Trevor inquired.

“According to the second major commander, we will be one of the first to be hit,” Steve said.

A proper frown appeared in Trevor’s forehead and he nodded. He had no reason to doubt his friend. All the more reason to go to him. “How many men are stationed there?”

“Not enough to fight a war, if the grand commander won’t send back-up the fortress won’t hold in an all-out attack.”

Trevor grumbled something and took a sip from the ale.

“Second major commander Andrus is planning on sending small mission into the enemy territory to investigate and sabotage, to delay them. That’s why he asked for you.”

“I understand,” Trevor stated. “I will take my horse from the stable, I pay the inn-keeper to take care of it for me. We will travel together from now on.”

“Understood, sir.”

Trevor smiled a bit, he knew he couldn’t get Steve to stop using that word. And if he would return he might as well get used to it again. He drank from the ale, busy with his own thoughts, when Steve drew the attention back to him.

“Sir?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you change your mind.”

Trevor looked at Steve for a moment and sighed. “Because Andrus doesn’t ask for help unless he needs it. I will not abandon a friend in a time of need.”

 Together they drank ale and ate roasted pork, all of which Trevor paid for. They shared a room with two others, travelling merchants who spend the night at the inn too. And the next morning, after a decent breakfast, the inn-keeper told them the horses were saddled and ready to go.


	4. The fortress

After leaving the inn it took Trevor and Steve two more days and nights to travel to the fortress located near the border of the country. While Trevor knew he would have been faster on Bendul, he choose to travel with Steve instead. At night they camped outside, that was nothing new for Trevor, he had earned his money as a guide ever since he left the army. They didn’t talk much during the travel, Trevor never was one to talk a lot, but he didn’t mind the conversations with Steve. The soldier was a friendly and optimistic man, but capable and respectful at all time too. It were all these qualities that made Trevor respect him. During the morning of the third day they arrived at the fortress and the gate opened as they rode towards it.

 The fortress was just like Trevor remembered, soldiers walked over the stone walls surrounding the buildings the guarding company resided in, the barracks, weapons depots, the kitchen, the mess and the war room. The war room was a place where officers could have their meeting. A handful of soldiers marched over the stomped down soil with a second commander walking in front of them. An exercise, there was nothing more to it. He noticed two soldiers duelling with practise swords in order to improve their skills, but without the risk of seriously injuring the other.

Steve went straight towards the war room and Trevor followed him, but instead of going inside with him, he stayed outside and leaned with his back against the wall of the building. So Steve entered alone and he looked at the back of second major commander Andrus. He looked briefly at the Butterfree who sat on the table. Benny, the companion of Andrus.

“Second major commander,” Steve began, only to be interrupted by Andrus.

“I know how you soldiers abbreviate the titles. I’m perfectly fine with being called Semaco.”

“Unless that will be an officially approved title, sir, I will not use it to address you.”

Andrus smiled a bit. “I know you won’t, Steve.” He walked towards the man, he knew him as respectful, trustworthy and a skilled soldier. He could certainly use his help, “Tell me, how do you feel about bending the rules?”

Steve remained silent for a moment, but then he nodded. “I won’t mind, sir, if it will keep the people of this country safe. I joined the military to protect, not to aimlessly follow rules.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. Now, how about the mission I send you on?”

“I delivered your message to the grand commander, sir.”

“And?”

“He doesn’t share your concern, his orders are to keep an eye on the situation.”

“What does he think I’ve been doing here?!” Andrus exclaimed as he threw his arms in the air. “Look at the trees? Study the birds?” He started pacing back and forth. “Of course I’ll keep an eye on the situation, it’s exactly why I send them this message! That’s the most unnecessary order I’ve heard in my entire life!”

“The other mission was succesful,” Steve mentioned as he watched his commanding officer walk around the war room.

“Really?” Andrus asked as he stopped walking. “Trevor is here?” His Butterfree also looked up, he seemed excited about the news.

When Trevor heard that he entered the room. “He is here,” he simply said.

Andrus walked over to Trevor immediately and grabbed both his arms. “I could kiss you!”

“Please don’t,” Trevor sighed.

As he chuckled Andrus let go of Trevor arms again. “It’s good you came, I need your help.”

Trevor looked at his old friend and shook his head. “From what Steve told me, you need another battalion here, not one man.”

“One man at the right place, on the right mission, can make a world of difference.” Andrus walked to the door of the room and closed it. “Listen you two, I already had a meeting with the first and second commanders of my company and we agreed that if we would get he answer Steve delivered, we wouldn’t wait for further orders. Starting tomorrow I will send small missions towards our neighbour, we will investigate the situation and sabotage when needed. We need proof they will attack us and we need to slow down their progress. One fortress cannot stand if they attack full force.” He looked at Trevor. “I need you to dust off your old uniform and become my first commander again. I’m planning on a few mission that bend our rules of warfare, but when needed...”

“You need me to go on a mission that goes against it,” Trevor finished. “Because I’m not part of the army anyway and I have no issues with doing what must be done.”

“I will try to stay within our rules of warfare as much as I can, but at the same time I know the threat is real and I need to be prepared to take action and defend our borders.”

“Don’t you think that going into their land will be taken as an act of aggression and be taken as an excuse to attack us?” Trevor asked.

“Of course I have considered that,” Andrus sighed, “but doing nothing and waiting until it’s too late won’t do us any good. We have to be prepared and the only way of doing that is gathering information first hand. An attack is going to come, one way or the other. I know it.”

Trevor nodded. “I trust your instincts, you know that.” He sighed as he walked over to the Butterfree, who listened to the conversation in silence. “You’re putting your neck on the line here, if things go bad, you’ll be court-martialed.”

“And if things go well, I’ll be a hero,” Andrus said, making a dismissive motion with his hand. “I will do what needs to be done, despite the consequences it might have.” He glanced towards Steve. “I’ll make sure the blame falls on just me and not any of the first and second commanders.”

“I’ll make sure no-one will blame you for anything,” Trevor stated and he looked at the Butterfree. “Right, Benny?”

“Free!” Benny replied as he flew up.

“How is that Mankey you found?” Trevor asked as he turned to Andrus again, since everything that had to be said was said, he felt a change of topic wasn't out of place.

“Bear is doing great, he turned into a Primeape. You should see him handle a two-handed sword! It’s just...” he sighed, but grinned almost immediately after. “When he goes into rage, he will attack anyone, friend or foe. I’m working on that, but that species has a serious anger-management problem.”

Trevor smiled a bit, he had heard about the temper of such creatures, but if Andrus made it possible for such a Pokémon to be among people, he was doing something right.

“Is it still just Bendul for you?” Andrus then asked.

“No, I have a Bellossom with me too. She... I found her in the forest and she stayed with me after that. So, I took her along.”

Andrus nodded to that. “I would love to meet her, but first we need to catch up. It’s been two years! Two long, lone years! I’m sure you have missed me!”

“I quite enjoyed the silence...” Trevor muttered, but smiled when Andrus gasped on purpose to fake the shock he felt.

Steve smiled and decided this was a good time to leave, so he turned around.

“Steve?” Andrus said.

“Yes sir?”

“Now that you took Anthony along...”

“Yes sir, he knows where the grand general stays, he can carry your messages from now on.”

“Great! That’s what I wanted to hear.”

“Can I be excused, sir?”

“Yes,” Andrus replied with a friendly smile.

Trevor cleared his throat. “Maybe I should...”

“You’re not excused,” Andrus interrupted him. “We have very important things to do. Like drink some wine and catch up.”

Trevor nodded to that, he wouldn’t mind to have a glass of wine with his friend and catch up a little before he would reclaim his old rank and enter the life he once left behind. 


	5. The Staraptor attack

That afternoon Andrus sent out a small group of soldiers to investigate the troop movement, he ordered Steve to pick five other soldiers and lead them into the enemy territory. Even though they weren’t technically at war with the others, Andrus treated it as such. This wasn’t the first group he sent out to gather information, but he knew these missions weren’t approved by his commanding officers. As long as there would be no inspection from his first major commander, he would be good. He also gave Trevor one of the spare uniforms with the appropriate markings to indicate the rank of first commander, which Trevor reluctantly put on.

When Trevor wore the appropriate clothes again they walked through the fortress together, closely followed by Kiri and Benny, when they saw a Primape jump up and swing a sword down, cutting deep into the hay belly of a practice dummy.

“Good strike, Bear!” Andrus complemented the Pokémon.

“Prime!” the Primeape replied proudly and he lifted his right arm to show his muscles.

“What a stud! If any girls would be here, they’d faint of admiration!”

Bear pointed to a building that served to treat the sick and injured.

“Good plan!” Andrus said as he turned to the building. “Kim!” As he called to her, he walked over to the Primeape to stand next to him.

A Furret came out of the building to see why she was called. When she noticed both Bear and Andrus taking on a pose to show off their muscles, even if Andrus didn’t have much muscle to show off, she brought her front paws to her mouth and giggled.

“She laughed at us!” Andrus exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around Bear. “She laughed at us.” The Primeape made equally melodramatic sounds.

Trevor shook his head and continued to walk.

“Where are you going?” Andrus asked with a grin.

“Somewhere way from here,” Trevor stated. “I don’t want have anything to do with that.”

“You’re so serious! You haven’t changed a bit.”

Trevor could stop his lips from curling up into a smile. “Neither have you,” he said as he turned around to his friend.

Kiri took this moment to dance towards Kim, she rarely walked in a normal way. She always seemed to glide and sway as if performing an everlasting dance.

 _“Hey!”_ she said to Kim. _“I’m glad to see another girl here!”_

Kim smiled at the Bellossom. _“Hello,”_ she greeted her.

 _“So, is this ‘war’?”_ she asked the Furret as she looked around in the fortress.

A sad look came into the eyes of Kim. _“No,”_ she said softly. _“War is terrible, humans and Pokémon injure and kill each other.”_

 _“Really?”_ Kiri gasped. “ _What for?”_

 _“Often it is to gain what they don’t have or defend what they have,”_ Kim replied.

_“Why are you here?”_

Kim looked towards Andrus and Bear, who had started to wrestle playfully. _“If either of them gets hurt, someone has to take care of them.”_

 Just like Kim, Trevor looked at Andrus and Bear and shook his head, he didn’t know any officer with the rang Andrus had who acted like he did. He could walk around in a fortress, knowing a war could break out, and fool around. At the same time he knew Andrus could be serious when he needed to be and he could change from joking to serious within one breath.

He glanced towards the eastern wall where he noticed two soldiers talking to each other while keeping an eye on the eastern border. Then he saw a Staraptor land on the wall. That was nothing out of the ordinary, wild Pokémon existed everywhere. Suddenly the Staraptor flew up and sank his powerful claws in the head of one of the soldiers. The man screamed as the Staraptor lifted him into the air and dropped him inside the fortress. Trevor looked at the soldier, who’s head was a bloody mess and he could tell the man had lost one of his eyes. He quickly turned his attention to the Staraptor, who flew up into the sky.

“Arrows!” he ordered and soldiers responded immediately with grabbing their bows to take down the Pokémon, but none of the arrows hit the target as the Staraptor produced a powerful Gust to blow them away from him. After that the Staraptor flew down in high speed, getting engulfed in streaks of white light and he tackled another soldier on the wall, cutting into the neck with his beak. Blood dripped from the point of his beak and he looked for his next victim.

“Bendul!” Trevor called as he turned to see where his Charizard was.

The Charizard rose to his feet, but before he could lift off Bear jumped onto his back with a sword in one hand. Bendul nodded to the Primeape and took off to follow the Staraptor. He breathed fire towards the bird to get the attention away from the humans and make it turn the attention to them. It worked and the Staraptor flew towards them. When he was close enough, Bear jumped up and his sword sliced through the sky. The sword hit feathers and flesh as it cut deep into the Staraptor, droplets of blood left a trail in the sky as the Staraptor fell to the ground. It landed like a sack of potatoes inside the fortress.

Andrus walked up to the Staraptor, but it was obviously not alive anymore. Bendul landed next to it and Bear jumped down from the back again. “Good job you two,” Andrus said, after which he looked at Trevor. “I’m going to report this, but they will say it was just a wild Pokémon.”

“Maybe it was.”

“Or maybe it wasn’t. They have Staraptor in their ranks. It can be a wild Pokémon and I hope it was. Because if it wasn’t, we’re going to be in trouble soon.” He looked at the body of the Staraptor again. “It looked trained to me.”

Trevor couldn’t disagree with him, that thought had crossed his mind too. The question was why one Staraptor would come to attack them. It made no sense. Was this a warning? A Staraptor who got lost on the way to the actual target? A wild Pokémon randomly attacking people. He couldn’t disagree with Andrus reporting this, but nothing could be concluded at this point. He sighed as he looked at the wall. One thing was certain, they had to increase their defences to avoid things like this happening. And start letting Pokémon patrol alongside of the soldiers.


	6. The second attack

Andrus watched how soldiers took care of the wounded soldier, carried away the dead soldier and removed the body of the Staraptor. This could be an isolated case, he knew that was possible. Wild Pokémon could be dangerous and yet he couldn’t shake the feeling this was connected to the increased activity on the other side of the border.

“What’s on your mind?” Trevor asked as he walked up to his friend, his Bellossom danced after him.

“I hope Steve will return soon. And that he will slap the back of my head for worrying too much about a possible attack that isn’t going to happen.”

“That won’t happen.”

“No,” Andrus sighed. “Steve would never hit a superior officer.”

There was a moment of silence as Trevor looked at the serious look on his friend’s face. “He won’t say the attack isn’t going to happen either. Your judgement in these situations is usually accurate. I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t think the threat Steve mentioned was real.”

“I’m glad you came, I have extremely capable officers walking around here, but none of them have your skill.”

Trevor didn’t respond to that. He just looked at what was going on around him. It was something he didn’t need to comment on either, if he would deny it Andrus wouldn’t believe him anyway. Suddenly he noticed one of the soldiers on the wall pointed to something in the sky and he narrowed his eyes.

“Two Staraptor coming this way!” the soldier shouted.

“Arrows!” Andrus called back immediately. “Don’t let them near the fortress.” One wild Staraptor randomly attacking humans was possible, having two more approach the fortress was definitely suspicious. He looked towards Trevor. “Do you remember the Trialcia way of warfare?”

Trevor gave a single nod with his head. “When taking an enemy camp send one soldier in civilian clothes who is to attack the enemy once they let them in their ranks. When he’s dead send two more. Then send three under the cover of the night to kill the high-ranking officers. Then strike them in full force in the morning light,” he recited, not giving the Butterfree who joined them any attention.

“Why not use Pokémon instead of civilians?” Andrus watched how the soldiers fired arrows at the Staraptor, who evaded them or blew them away with wind-attacks. “We had a civilian approach the fortress, but in times of war I don’t allow civilians in unless I expect them. I will bet everything I own that the civilian was a Trialcia and they switched to using Pokémon instead.”

“I think you’re right.” He noticed how one arrow pierced into the chest of one of the Staraptors and it fell to the ground. The other pulled in its wings and dove down to attack one of the soldiers, but it too got pierced by arrows. “That means three men or Pokémon will try to sneak into the fortress tonight to kill you.”

“I’ll double the guards.” Andrus let out a sigh. “I’d like to avoid getting killed.”

“Free,” Benny said with a sad sound in his voice.

“If they use Pokémon it will be some who can see in the night,” Trevor mentioned. “Do we have Pokémon who can do that?”

“Freee!” Benny said as he flew towards Trevor.

Andrus looked at his winged friend. “I’d rather not assign you,” he said to him, to which Benny began to explain something in his language. “I know,” Andrus sighed as he looked towards the wall. “You have guard duty tonight.” He didn’t know exactly what Benny had said, no human could understand the language of Pokémon, but the gestures and tone of voice gave him a pretty good idea on Benny’s protest.

“Is he up for that?” Trevor asked.

With an amused look in his eyes Andrus looked at Trevor. “Everyone asks me that question, I know he doesn’t look though, but he can fight. You should see him throw knives around with his psychic ability.” He turned his attention back to the Butterfree. “Go rest, I’m counting on you to do a full shift tonight.”

Benny nodded and flew away.

“Aren’t you worried?” Trevor asked.

“About tonight? No.” Andrus shrugged. “Capable soldiers are stationed here and Bear will guard the door when he learns about the possible attack tonight.” He chuckled as he put his hands behind his head. “I feel sorry for those who try to get passed Bear to get to me.” The smile faded and he lowered his hands again. “Tomorrow morning on the other hand, that worries me. I don’t know with how many they will come, but it will be a tough battle.”

Trevor nodded, he agreed with that. He glanced to his Charizard, who seemed to be taking a nap in the sun. They would have to fight again.


	7. The midnight intruders

That night Andrus sat on his bed with his sword on his lap. He had tried, but sleeping was impossible. He kept thinking about the Trialcia way of warfare and the consequences it would have on him. He looked at the Primeape who stood like a statue with his two-handed sword, glaring at the door.

“I’m going outside,” he said as he got up, but the Primeape glared at him and pointed to the bed.

“Oh, come on Bear! You can’t keep me a prisoner here!”

“Prime…” Bear grumbled and Andrus didn’t doubt he meant something in the lines of ‘you watch me, I’ll do exactly that’.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed when the door suddenly opened and two swift figures in black entered the room, each had two blades ready. They were completely covered in black clothes, only their eyes were visible. Both Bear and Andrus responded quickly and stopped the incoming blades with their sword, only to see two more blades coming down. The attacks were swift and precise, the Primape and officer had a hard time defending themselves, there was no room to attack. Suddenly Bear grabbed Andrus and used his Seismic Toss to hurl him out of the room. One of the blades carved into his back, red liquid soon coloured the white fur around the wound, and with a cry of pain Bear turned around and started punching and kicking the nearest figure. The Trash-attack soon weakened and Bear sank to his knees before falling over. The other figure lay on the ground too, one green foot twitched a little.

Andrus got up and noticed one of the figures in black running over to him, lifting one blade into the sky. Now, with the moonlight reflecting the blade, he could see it wasn’t someone holding a sword. It was a blade attached to the body with a green arm. Scyther, they had to be Scyther. But where were the other two? And only two had entered his room, maybe Bear had taken one out, but that still left the third one. He could see Trevor running towards him.

“I can deal with it! Go check on Bear!” Andrus called to him.

Trevor didn’t doubt for a second and rushed to Andrus’ room.

Andrus used his own sword to defend himself from the double blade again, and again he had to admit this Scyther was skilled. He could barely keep himself alive and he couldn’t find an opening to attack. An arrow came from the wall and pierced the back of the Scyther, who let out a cry of pain. It raised its blade again, but more arrows pierced the skin and flesh in its back and the Scyther fell to the ground.

Panting, Andrus lowered his sword and he looked at the Scyther. Then he looked around. At this hour of the night there weren’t many soldiers up. While he had expected something like this could happen, although the choice of Pokémon was something he hadn’t foreseen, he had ordered the soldiers to rest. This attack was proof the decision to keep a minimum amount of soldiers up during the night was a good one. He needed his soldiers well rested for what the morning would bring.

A couple of soldier ran over. “Sir! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m not sure about Bear.” He looked around. “Where is Benny?”

“Well… when the first Scyther jumped on the wall he used his wings to create a wind with silver crescents in it and pushed the Scyther down again. Then the second and third came and the second killed one of the guard and Benny fired a purple beam at the third while we took down the second, but the first had returned and attacked Benny before we could take him out.

“Is he okay?”

The soldier didn’t respond right away.

“Where is he?”

“T-the infirmary, sir.”

Andrus nodded and walked back to his room.

“Orders, sir?”

“Continue what you were doing, keep guard, but if they stick to their methods we won’t have to fear any more surprises during the night.” He walked away, not looking at the salute the soldier gave and went inside.

“He’ll live,” Trevor said before Andrus could ask. “He has a nasty wound on the back, but I patched him up enough to get him to the infirmary.”

“Let’s go then, Benny is there too.”

Trevor nodded once and together with Andrus he picked the Primeape up and they carried him across the camp to the building where they took care of the wounded. The carried him to a bed.

“P-primeape…” Bear muttered.

“You were fantastic,” Andrus told him. “Rest now, I need you tomorrow again.” He looked to another bed where he saw Benny. Two other beds were occupied by soldiers, both of them had guard duty that night.  He walked over to the Butterfree.

Benny didn’t look up, he had a clean cut in his wing and two deep strikes on his back, but they were stitched up. The doctor was working on closing the cut with a worried Furret next to him to give him the things he needed.

“Will they be okay?” Andrus asked the doctor.

“Paul died from his wounds, Kevin and Benny will live.”

Andrus nodded once and turned around. “I’m going to get some sleep, we’ll have a battle in the morning.”

“Do we need to prepare something?” Trevor asked.

“We are as prepared as we can be,” Andrus sighed. “Make sure to rest, my friend. I’ll need you to bring carnage and fear to our enemy, if Bendul is willing.”

“Don’t worry about that, we talked about it. We’ll do what we have to do.”

Andrus looked at Trevor and nodded. After that he left.

Trevor stayed in the infirmary a little longer, looked at the two injured Pokémon and left too.


	8. Dawn

The sky changed from black to dark blue and became lighter as time passed. The sun would come up soon. Trevor stood on the wall and looked towards the east when he noticed two people running towards the fortress. It wasn’t long before he recognized Steve and he ordered a soldier to open the gate. The soldier responded with a ‘yes sir’ and quickly left to open do as he was told. Trevor watched them as they ran towards the gate. Only two made it back, hadn’t Andrus mentioned it was a group of five or six he sent out? After a final glance at the east he went down the steps and walked over to the gate, which had closed behind the soldiers.

Steve panted with an arched back and his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“Report,” Trevor spoke with his strict voice.

“They’re marching to our fortress, sir,” Steve panted as he straightened his back. “It’s not their entire army, that is waiting north-east from here, but they send smaller units to the fortresses along the border to take them all out today. Even if it’s a small unit, they have double the manpower we have. And after these attacks they will march in and head straight for the castle. Amongst the Pokémon they have Graveler to take down the walls, Staraptor for aerial attacks, Scyther, Machamp and Ursaring to aid the swordsmen and they have hundreds of Spinarak in cages. I’ve also spotted two Dewott, but I’m unsure what they are used for.”

Trevor nodded.

“They are close and will attack when the first light of the sun rises above the horizon.”

“As expected,” Trevor said and he looked at the two soldiers. They didn’t look good, their uniforms were dirty and torn, their hands and faces full of scratches and dirt, their eyes and hanging shoulders indicated a fatigue neither of them was willing to admit. Steve’s companion, Trevor didn’t know his name and quite frankly he didn’t care about it either, had a makeshift bandage around his arm which was stained with blood. “What happened to the others?”

“We lost them,” Steve said, “killed by the enemy while we got the information and on the way back.”

“You can fill in the details later. Eat, wash yourselves up and rest as long as you can. We need every available man ready for war.”

The two soldiers saluted and walked away, but Trevor had seen the grim and yet determined expression he knew all too well. These men were used to war. He remembered Steve as a capable soldier and he knew his friend wouldn’t send unreliable men on a scouting mission like this. The loss was undoubtedly big for the fortress. He turned around to relay the information to Andrus.

 

The second major commander summoned his first commanders to listen to what Trevor had to say.

“Okay,” Andrus said at the end. “Those Graveler are our main concern. If we lose the walls we’re dead.”

“Arrows won’t work on them,” one of the officers said. “Their skin is made of rock.”

Trevor had a thoughtful look in his eyes. “Fire doesn’t do much against them,” he muttered.

“No, but they don’t do well with water, do they?” one of the other officers said. “What water Pokémon do we have?”

“Two Golduck and a Greninja.”

Andrus let out a sigh. “That’s not going to win the battle, but if they can focus on the Graveler, that’s something. We need others protecting them against arrows and the Staraptor, if we lose our water Pokémon before the Graveler are gone, we’re in trouble. Is the oil boiled?”

“They’re heating up several cauldrons as we speak.”

“Good. We won’t use it on the stone Pokémon, but if others attempt to climb the wall we can use it on them. How many arrows do we have?”

The silence that followed was not a good sign.

“How many?” Andrus repeated.

“We counted a thousand arrows, sir.”

In a situation like this a thousand wasn’t that much. It meant they couldn’t afford too many misses. Ideally every arrow had to count, but that was wishful thinking. Andrus frowned as he thought about it. “Didn’t we request more arrows?”

“Yes sir, but the shipment is due to arrive today or tomorrow.”

Andrus groaned, ran his hand through his hair, sighed and shrugged it off. “Let’s hope those arrows are being delivered by an army. Okay, are the arrows all at the wall?”

“Yes sir, all boxes have been distributed and we’ll have three Pachirisu running around to see who is running out and take some arrows where there are still plenty.”

“Good. The strategy for today is to take out the Graveler and the Staraptor as soon as we can and use every bow we have on the wall to take out as many of the soldiers as possible. Any Pokémon that can attack from the wall will be stationed there as well. If they breach the wall or the numbers are more in our favour we switch to swords and engage in close combat. Until then we stick with ranged weapons.” He looked at Trevor. “Take Bendul and kill or incapacitate as many as you can. And if you can, take out the commanding officers, after last night it’s not more than fitting to return the assassination attempt.” He ignored the other officers who stared at him for suggesting that, all he cared about was the agreeing nod from Trevor. That was exactly the reason he wanted him here, Trevor would do what was needed instead of what was honourable. “Just keep an eye on the Staraptor and the arrows from either side,” he added.

“The enemy arrows will be a problem,” Trevor muttered as he thought about it, “I need a shield Bendul can hold to protect his body.”

“We’ve got something better,” Andrus promised with a pat on Trevor’s shoulder. “Go to the blacksmith so he can prepare Bendul for battle.” He knew the Charizard was their trump-card, but also how vulnerable he was to arrows in the air. That was why he had ordered the blacksmith to prepare something for if Trevor would come to their aid after receiving the letter.

Just after Trevor left, Steve entered the room. He looked tired, but after an exhausting mission that was to be expected. “The enemy approaches,” he told them. “They’ll be here soon.”

“Right. Time to show how awesome we are then!” Andrus stated with a misplaced enthusiasm. He knew as well as the others their chances were slim, but at least they had a chance. If it had it had been the full Trialcia army approaching, they wouldn’t have had a fighting chance. “Steve, I need your Fletchinder to deliver a message. I need to tell the grand commander I was right and that the army is approaching.”

“In that order, sir?” Steve asked with a smile.

“You bet I will write it in that order!” Andrus gestured to the lower officers to leave so they could inform their men and take positions. He took a piece of paper, ink and a pen and wrote a message for his superior officers.

 

_Dear Grand Commander._

_I TOLD YOU SO, sir. Trialcia’s are approaching, a unit is at my gate as I write this and my scouts informed me they have send units to the other outposts at the border too. They will all be attacked when the sun comes up and after that the army will cross the border and march up to the castle, I do not know where they will do that. It’s likely assassination attempts happened in all outposts last night, as one happened here too, executed by Scyther. Yesterday we were attacked by one and later two Staraptor. Unlike previous assassination attempts they rely more on Pokémon this time The main army is stationed north-east of here, they will most likely march between this fortress and the one north from here and they have Pokémon. The unit here has Graveler to take down the walls, Scyther and Machamp as sword-fighters, Ursaring wielding battle-axes and Staraptor to attack from the sky. That is all the confirmed information I have. They also have lots of Spinarak, the use they have for them is unknown, but I think they will drop them in the fortress at one point. We have a mixed pack of Growlithe, Houndour and Litleo stand by in case that happens. We are outnumbered, but we have the advantage of being in the fortress, so I will update when we are victorious._

_Second major commander Andrus._

 

He rolled up the paper, sealed it and walked outside with Steve. He noticed the Fletchinder waiting for his companion there and he watched how Steve walked over to him.

“Anthony, we need you to deliver a message to the grand commander,” he said to him.

Anthony nodded, flapped his wings and lifted into the sky. He flew to Andrus, who held out the letter to him, grabbed the letter with his claw and flew away.

“Let’s hope reinforcements come before we’re all dead,” Andrus sighed.

“How are your Pokémon companions doing, sir?” Steve asked. “I heard they got wounded.”

“They survived and they have taken some of those Pokémon berries.” Andrus looked at the sky that had gotten lighter. The sun would rise soon. “It’s a shame those berries don’t have the same healing effect on humans, life would be so much easier.”

“That’s true.” Steve turned to face his commanding officer directly. “Sir, with your approval, I’ll take my position now.”

Andrus gave the approval with a nod of his head and watched him walk away. After a moment he turned around too and went to the infirmary to check up on Benny and Bear quickly, before making his way to the wall and wait for the sun to rise.


	9. The Battle

As the sun peeked gently over the horizon it spread it’s orange light over the gathered armed men, obviously the enemy would use the rising sun as their advantage. Andrus stood on the crenelated wall of the fortress and looked at them, the sun wouldn’t give them as much of an advantage as they hoped for. His soldiers had their bows ready, but waited for the order to attack.

A man walked forward, most likely to give them a chance to surrender. And indeed, he looked up at the wall, straight at Andrus.

“Second major commander, leader of this armed stronghold. We generously give you the chance to surrender to us and we will spare your lives.”

“Oh!” Andrus replied. “Oh, hey, if you put it that way, why didn’t you say so? I’ll open the gate right away.”

The man looked at the gate, expecting it to open. Which didn’t happen.

“You will only be given one change,” the man said as he looked up again. “Surrender or die.”

“Then I choose death,” Andrus stated as he lifted a bow and pulled back an arrow, “but if it’s okay with you, it’s not my death I choose, but the death of your people trying to take our fortress. I will give you a chance to surrender to us.”

The man started laughing. “You’re outnumbered!”

“I guess math never was my strong suit,” Andrus replied. He wanted to release the arrow, he had a clear shot at the man, but if he would they could pin the start of the war on him. He wasn’t bad at math and he certainly was no fool. Luckily he didn’t have to wait long, the man roared the order to attack and Andrus smiled. “I was waiting for that invitation,” he called down as the first arrows were shot upwards to them and he released his arrow.

The arrow pierced the sky and the heavy iron tip dug itself in the man’s throat. Blood gushed out as he grabbed the arrow and sank to his knees. He gasped and blood dripped from his mouth on the ground, the first droplets of blood to stain the grass. By the end of the day much more blood would be spilled.

Arrows flew up and down as the two armies tried to kill each other. The Graveler rolled in and bumped against the wall, but the water Pokémon did what they could to stop them.

“Sir!” one of the second commanders shouted to Andrus. “Please go down, we’ve got this. The wall is a dangerous place to be right now.”

Andrus nodded and made his way down, he could argue that he as commanding officer had to be with his men, but he wouldn’t make a difference by acting as a target on the wall. One thing he knew for sure. They were outnumbered and if their arrows were gone all they could do was barricade the gate and hope reinforcements would come before supplies ran out or the enemy found a way inside. He joined the restless soldiers who could only wait until they had to engage in battle.

“How does it look, sir?” one of them asked.

“Oh, you know, we’ll have them crawling back to their mothers before lunchtime.”

It was silent for a moment.

“Oh,” the soldier replied. “That bad, huh?”

Andrus smiled a bit as he looked at him, these men knew him too well. “Yes, but we’ll make it through.” He swiftly turned his head when he heard a bang against the wall and some dust fell down. He didn’t need to be on the wall to know that was one of the Graveler.

“Sir!” Steve called down. “The water Pokémon don’t have the power to stop them. They can slow them down, but sometimes they get through!”

“Damn it…” Andrus muttered.

“If I may give the suggestion, we need Benny, if we can put them to sleep or paralyze them, that will work too!”

“I’ll go see if he can use his wings!” Andrus replied as he turned and headed straight for the infirmary. The last time he had seen the Butterfree he had a cut in his wing, but maybe the berries had sped up the recovery enough for Benny to use his Sleeping Powder or Stun Spore.

As he entered the infirmary he noticed how Bear did some stretching exercises, but his face contoured with pain. Not quite healed, but even if the berries sped up the healing, it wasn’t a miracle cure. He walked over to the bed where Benny sat.

“Free,” Benny greeted him, but it didn’t sound as cheerful as usually.

“Can you fly?” Andrus asked.

Benny looked at his injured wing and shook his head.

“Can you release powders?”

Benny flapped both his wings gently and produced a little sleeping powder which slowly floated towards the ground.

“Okay, so if you don’t need to flap fast you can use your wing?”

Benny nodded once.

“Good. We need your stun spore. Or sleeping powder. Some Graveler are trying to take down the wall.” He picked him up from the bed. “Let’s go.”

Bear quickly walked over, but Andrus shook his head. “They haven’t broken through yet. Rest, stretch and eat a few more berries. We need you later on, so please take it easy now.”

The Primeape nodded and grabbed another berry from the bowl. He sat down on the bed as he started eating.

It didn’t take Andrus long to leave the infirmary, climb the stairs to the top of the wall and go to where the Graveler were. He put Benny in a crenel, but as soon he flapped his wings and produced some stun spore, a couple of arrows were fired at him. Andrus quickly took Benny down and hid behind the merlon. “That won’t work,” he said as he looked at Steve. “Bring me a small barrel. Or a few of them.”

“A barrel?” Steve repeated, but soon after he spoke the words he nodded. “Right. You want to fill a crate with the barrel and then drop it.”

“Good plan, right?”

“Good plan, sir. I’ll go get a couple of them.” Steve quickly made his way to the other end of the crenelated wall, keeping his head under the merlons as much as he could as arrow flew over his head and landed somewhere behind the wall. When a flaming arrow landed in front of him he stomped it out with his foot and he continued to the small storage room. He didn’t find any barrels and started looking around for something else. With an annoyed sigh he concluded there weren’t any barrels or crates he could use. Then he noticed some tattered flags. They would have to do and with them he ran back to his second major commander.  
“No barrels, sir, and the only crates I found were open on all sides, but I found these.”

“That will work. I’m sure they’ll love being covered in our flag.” Andrus looked at his Butterfree. “Sleeping powder, Benny. As much as you can produce.”

The Butterfree nodded and wanted to flap his wings, but was stopped by Andrus.

“Wait. If the wind catches it our men will fall asleep.” He looked at the flag as he thought about it. “Lift the corners,” he said to Steve.

Steve nodded and took the corners at his side. Andrus lifted those on his side and they raised the tips high enough to reach Benny’s wings. Benny started producing some sleeping powder, making sure to make as little movement as he could so it would all fall down gently. They filled two flags with stun spore and two with sleep powder, after which they closed them carefully, making sure the powder wouldn’t disperse in the wind and incapacitate their own man. Lastly they took a brick and tied it to the flag so it would land where they wanted it.

While they were busy with that, their archers continued to shoot down arrows, just like the opponent shot them up. There were a few casualties, that was something that couldn’t be avoided, but they had the preferred position. If only they had the arrows to take everyone out.

Andrus looked at one of the fallen soldiers with an arrow sticking out of his bloody chest and then at the ground behind the wall. “It’s kind of them to provide us with more arrows.”

“Truthfully, sir,” Steve replied. “They can say that about our arrows too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of ours returned to us.”

Andrus chuckled at the comment and Steve allowed a small smile of his own, but it disappeared almost instantly when an arrow flew over their heads and barely missed a soldier inside the fortress 

One of the second commanders screamed when an arrow pierced his eye, stepped back as he clawed at the wooden shaft sticking out his face and tumbled from the wall. Sadly not the first second commander to die on the wall. Steve hurried to the soldiers and looked around the merlon to see what the situation was and took the bow the second commander had dropped to fire an arrow.

“I trust you’ll use these powder-surprises well, Steve?” Andrus asked.

“Yes sir, you can count on me.”

“Good.” With Benny in his arms the second major commander started walking away. “Oh, by the way, you’re promoted to second commander.”

Steve stared at him. “Excuse me, sir?”

“I’m short of second commanders now. I’m sure you’ll do a great job.” He looked at the nearby soldiers who looked at him as well. “Listen to Steve, I’m serious about the promotion.” Only after he heard several soldiers say ‘yes sir’ he left the wall again.

 

As the first arrows flew to and from the wall, the Fletchinder that travelled with Steve flew as fast as he could towards the capital city. His smaller wings were no match for the large wings of Staraptor behind him, who came closer and closer with every wingbeat.

He saw a Noctowl flying towards him.

 _“Please help me!”_ he called out to the Noctowl. _“The enemy is here and they want to kill me!”_

The Noctowl looked at him before he locked his eyes on the Staraptor. He flew on without saying a word, but his eyes started to shiny yellow.

The Staraptor blinked and almost fell to the ground, but he remembered how to use his wings. Moments later his eyes closed and he fell to the ground.

 _“There,”_ the Noctowl said. _“Now tell me what’s going on.”_

 _“The enemy arrived, I have to deliver a message to the officers,”_ Anthony explained. _“The fortress of second commander Andrus is under attack.”_

 _“I understand,”_ the Noctowl replied. _“Deliver your message, messenger. I will see if Andrus needs my assistance.”_ Without another word, the Noctowl flew straight towards the fortress.

Anthony quickly continued his travel, now the Staraptor was asleep he didn’t need to worry about his life anymore. He still flew as fast as he could, the message had to be delivered. The last thing he wanted was that Steve would die because he hadn’t been fast enough.


	10. The fearsome Charizard

Together with another soldier Steve took the two makeshift bags filled with stun spore and dropped the first on the Graveler. It slowed only one of them down, so he decided to throw the second one down as well and finally there were enough spores in the air to stop all the Graveler from banging the gate.

Andrus had ordered soldier to pick up the arrows that could still be used and bring them to the wall. He noticed how the bangs against the gate stopped and sighed in relief. That was one problem taken care off. He listened to a report about the casualties so far, and  how many of those were injured or dead and he nodded before sending the soldier away again.

A roar sounded behind him and he quickly turned around. Bendul stood with his wings spread out and he shot a flamethrower in the air. A chainmail covered his neck, chest and abdomen and Trevor sat on his back. He gave his friend a thumbs up. “Looking good, Trev! Are you up for causing some mayhem?”

“We are,” Trevor replied. “We’ll fly over the army and try to take out the commanding officers.”

The Bellossom popped up too and waved to Andrus. “Bellossom!” she said enthusiastically.

“She has no idea what’s going on, has she?” Andrus asked.

Both Bendul and Trevor shook their heads.  
“You can leave her with Kim if you like, war is awful enough as it is, it doesn’t have to crush yet another innocent soul.”

“I told her to stay here, but she refused. I tried my best to explain and she still wants to come along. And… I can use her. She has an ability which will aid Bendul.”

“It’s your call, she’s your companion,” Andrus said and he saw how Trevor gave a single nod as reply. He nodded too. “Take care, my friend. I want us to be able to celebrate our victory together.”

Again Trevor nodded once with his head. “Let’s go, Bendul,” he said to his Charizard.

Bendul moved his wings up and down, faster and faster and he lifted from the ground.

“Do your thing, Kiri,” Trevor said to the Bellossom in his lap.

Kiri jumped up and stood on Bendul’s head. She stretched out her arms to the side and two white orbs appeared. She moved her arms up and the two orbs flew into the sky, twirling around each other and combining in a bright orb that hang above the fortress.

The eyes of Bendul shimmered and the fire on his tail grew double in size under the influence of the Sunny Day. As Kiri jumped back on Trevor’s lap, Bendul flew to the enemy. Andrus looked at it and nodded with approval.

The bright orb in the sky made it impossible for the opposing army to aim, the had to shield their eyes from the bright light. With the light in his back the first row of archers didn’t see Bendul coming. He roared and used his flamethrower to burn the humans on the ground, moving the continues stream of fire from left to right. Scream of agony and the smell of burning clothes, hair, skin and flesh filled the sky. It was a smell Trevor hadn’t missed at all, but it was necessary.

The soldiers on the wall took advantage of the light in their back and fired arrows down on the soldiers who hadn’t been engulfed in flames.

 

As Bendul left the fortress on the eastern side, going straight towards the army, the Noctowl who had aided Anthony approached the fortress from the west.

“Sir, a Noctowl is approaching!” one of the soldier called to his second commander. “Do I take it out?”

“Y- no, wait. Keep an eye on what it’s doing. If it shows signs of hostility, take it down. I’ll check with the second major commander.” The officer walked to the edge of the wall. “Commander Andrus!” he called down. “A Noctowl approaches and it’s day.”

“That could be Merlin!” Andrus called back, “hold your position, I’ll come up.” He quickly went to the ladder leading up to the western wall and joined the three archers guarding the wall. The soldiers had their arrows aimed at the Noctowl, but waited for his order. The moment they locked eyes, the Noctowl greeted him.

“Is that your friend?” the second commander asked.

“That’s Merlin,” Andrus sighed. “Let him come.”

The archers nodded and lowered their bows. Moments later Merlin perched on top of a merlon and looked at Andrus.

“You came at a good time, we could use your help.” The Noctowl wasn’t a companion like Benny was, he didn’t remain at his side at all times, but he came to the fortress from time to time. He saw how Merlin nodded and smiled. “We have Bendul reaping havoc east from us, but we need to have some eyes in the sky for silent intruders. Will you do that?”

Again Merlin nodded and he flew up to keep an eye on any movement near the fortress with his Keen Eye. He looked at the battle in the east and saw the Charizard moving another flamethrower over the ground. He moved his head and eyes around to search first the immediate surroundings and broaden his search gradually.

There was movement in sky the north side and flew towards the trees to take cover. He recognized the two approaching Pokémon as Staraptor, each carrying a cage filled with Spinarak. He tilted his head, moved it back up and tilted it again as he processed the information and decided on a course of action. After a moment he flew up towards them and used his Echoed Voice. The two Pokémon shook their head as the soundwaves penetrated their ears, but retaliated with a Take Down of their own. Merlin had anticipated a physical move and his eyes shone with a light-blue colour. A shield appeared in front of him and the Reflect was well into place when the Staraptors did their double attack.

 _“Give up,”_ Merlin said to them. _“I never trained in an army, but I outsmart both of you and I will not allow harm to come upon Andrus.”_

 _“You can’t win!”_ one of the Staraptor replied. _“Our army will be victorious.”_

As a reply Merlin used his Hypnosis on the Staraptor, but as its eyes started to close and it fell down to the ground, the second Staraptor tackled him. After the hit Merlin’s eyebrow tufts had a blue glow and the Staraptor became surrounded in a blue outline. It struggled against the psychic restrain the Confusion gave and Merlin made it open its claws. The cage fell down and shattered on the ground, the Spinarak quickly dispersed and hid in the forest. Merlin threw the Staraptor down and took a moment to check on the first Staraptor. That cage had been destroyed as it had crashed into the ground. He nodded to himself and retreated to the fortress when the second Staraptor flew up again and followed him to attack. It was so focussed on Merlin that it didn’t notice they came within the range of arrows.

The soldiers on the wall reacted when they saw Merlin being followed by an enemy and when he dove down they fired their arrows. Three arrows sank into the body of the Staraptor, who let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground.

 

As Bendul flew over the army, breathing fire everywhere he went, the enemy soldiers shot arrows up. Hitting a fast moving object was hard enough and the chainmail protected him against the arrows that did hit.

Kiri noticed a Staraptor approach and she released a spiral of pink petals from the flowers on her head. The Petal Dance hit the Staraptor, but didn’t take it down. It continued its flight towards Bendul, but Kiri was determined to protect her big friend. She watched the movement of the flags and released an orange mist from her flowers when the Staraptor was close. The Stun Spore drifted on the wind, towards the bird-Pokémon. It paralyzed the Pokémon and it fell down.

“Good job, Kiri,” Trevor complimented her. “Make another orb please.”

Kiri nodded and did her Sunny Day for a second time, making a new orb. Just like the first time the orb made it difficult for the people close to it to aim and it kept Benduls fire-attacks strong. The light in Benduls back was a strategic advantage, but one they only had for a short time, it didn’t take long before Bendul was too far away for that advantage, but the effect on his fire remained.

Trevor took an arrow and placed it on a bow. They were going straight towards the back of the army where the leader of this unit would be. Bendul used an evasive flight pattern and shot balls of fire everywhere he could. The screams of men on fire sounded every time a ball of fire exploded on the ground. As soon as Trevor saw the leader sitting on his horse he aimed. The man had a helmet on his head, but that wouldn’t save him. “Steady now,” he ordered Bendul, who spread his wings to glide. The moment Bendul levelled, Trevor released his arrow and Bendul made a sharp turn to the right to evade arrows that were being fired at him. One of the arrows penetrated the wing and he roared in pain.

“Can you fly?” Trevor demanded to know.

Bendul’s eyes showed he was in pain, but he nodded and he continued to fly.

Trevor looked back, the arrow had hit the man in his neck. “We go back. Do you have the energy for more attacks?”

Bendul growled something and nodded. He spread out his wings as he formed a ball of fire. He released the ball and used a gust, dispersing the flames over a wider area. It gave him the opportunity to fly back without being shot at. He continued this attack that both kept him out of view from the archers and rained down fire on the enemy, who’s items or clothes caught on small fires. The attack wasn’t nearly as destructive as the first attacks he had done, but it didn’t have to. When he noticed a crate filled with arrows being carried by two men, he shot a ball of fire at it, destroying the arrows and killing the carriers.

They made it back to the fortress alive, Bendul crashed on the ground inside and growled softly. A few soldiers, the Furret and Andrus rushed over to see what they could do.

“His wing is injured and he needs a moment to catch his breath,” Trevor announced as he slid from the back. His eyes moved to Andrus. “Their commanding officer is dead.”

“And so are quite some soldiers I heard from Steve,” Andrus said as he gestured to the eastern wall. “I’ve decided on an all-out attack now, with our Growlithe and Litleo. The numbers are more in our favour now. Take a sword, I can use you on the battlefield.”

With a single nod Trevor accepted the order and joined the gathering soldiers. He heard a worried sound from his Bellossom and looked back. “Stay with Bendul,” he ordered her. “He needs you. I will be back shortly.”

Kiri nodded and waved him goodbye.


	11. The final battle

Andrus had given the order to gather and all available soldiers took position in front of the large gate of the fortress. Only a few would remain on the walls to protect the fortress and aid them with arrows, he had given Steve the task to oversee the defence of their fortress. He stood in front of the gathered men, officers and soldiers alike.

“It’s time for an heroic battle!” he announced. “Let’s show these Trialcia’s knocking on our door was a mistake. There are still plenty of swords out there, both humans and Pokémon will attacks us. Our fire brigade will go first with the assistance of our archers, we will be the second wave. The order is simple. Kill or incapacitate as many enemy soldiers as you can.”

“Yes Sir!” the soldiers called back as a group.

Andrus looked at the fire Pokémon who were ready to go and nodded to them. “Be careful out there,” he told them, to which they nodded. He gestured to a soldier to open the gate and took his sword. He would lead his men into battle, with his good friend by his side. He looked to his left, where Trevor stood, and to the right, where Bear stood.

“Focus Energy, Bear,” he told his Primeape.

Bear nodded and flexed his muscles as a faint blue outline appeared around his body, which slowly faded again.

“We could use that move from your Bellossom again,” Andrus said to Trevor after a glance in the sky. “We have fire types, but the enemy doesn’t.”

Trevor nodded and looked back. “Kiri! Make your light orb again!”

“As big and bright as you can make it!” Andrus added.

“Bellossom!” Kiri replied cheerfully and for the third time that day she formed two small orbs and allowed them to grow before shooting them up.

 

The moment the orb appeared and send out its bright light the gates opened and the Growlithe, Houndour and Litleo rushed out, shooting flames at the enemy and when they were closer they used Bite and other physical attacks.

Andrus gave the order and every soldier that had gathered shouted as they ran towards the enemy.

The sound of metal against metal mixed with shouted orders, curse words, howling, growling and cries of pain. Second major commander Andrus fought alongside his men. There was no elaborate tactic to be followed, no big plan his men had to execute. Just kill, defeat the enemy, be victorious. His sword hit against metal, cut through flesh and didn’t stop for a moment.

A little bit further Trevor moved through the fighting men, with a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. He cut open someone’s belly with the dagger, intestines spilled out as he turned and thrust his sword into another enemy.

Bear jumped up and decapitated someone with a mighty blow of his two-handed broadsword.

 

Steve stood on the wall with some archers. Both Benny and Merlin had joined him at sat on the merlons. Merlin made a sound to get Steve’s attention and pointed to the sky, it seemed several Staraptor were ready to join the battle.

“We can’t shoot them from here, can you take them out?” he asked the Noctowl.

Merlin nodded and looked at Benny. _“Are you healed?”_

 _“Healed enough for this,”_ Benny assured him.

_“Let’s go then, Andrus will need our help.”_

_“I will paralyze the enemy soldiers in the rear if you can focus on the Staraptor.”_

Before Merlin could answer, a voice came from the ground. _“Leave them to me,”_ Bendul growled.

 _“Can you fly?”_ Merlin asked.

_“It hurts, but I can. The Furret did a great job mending the skin on my wing. And I can fight from the ground as well.”_

_“And I will protect Bendul!”_ Kiri exclaimed from his back.

Merlin spread his wings. _“Let’s go then.”_

Steve had no idea what the Pokémon had been saying to each other, but they all flew up to join the battle. Both Benny and Merlin took a bag of the sleeping powder that had been prepared, but not used.

 

The battle went on, humans and Pokémon on either side died with crushed skulls or gushing wounds. The entire battlefield reeked of blood and burnt flesh. The smell of death, the sound of men or Pokémon in pain or dying in anguish, it was something that never got easier.

Andrus killed an enemy soldier, but wasn’t fast enough to block an incoming blade and it cut down in his arm. He dropped his sword when the pain spiralled through his arm and quickly backed away when the sword came to his neck as he covered the wound with his free hand. Before the enemy soldier could strike for a third time the man dropped to the ground with a dagger in his back. Andrus looked up and saw Trevor standing a little further away, with a deadly precision he had thrown the dagger to save him. He quickly bend down to pick up his sword, his arm hurt and the blood stain on his arm grew larger, but he couldn’t stop now. A shade fell over him and when he looked up he noticed Benny, Merlin and Bendul flying over the battlefield. He also saw Staraptor approaching. It was good the Pokémon were there.

“Furret!” Kim shouted as she ran up to Andrus.

“This is no place for you!” Andrus berated her. “Go back to the fortress!”

She shook her head and used Quick Attack on an enemy soldier, before rushing to a fallen soldier of theirs to see if she could help him.

 

The company of Andrus gained more and more ground as the battle continued. Bear, who was already angry after seeing Andrus get hurt, grew more angry when an Ursaring tried to hit him with a mighty double-bladed battle axe. He Low-Kicked the Ursaring and thrust his blade through its heart. He didn’t look at the blood dripping from the point of his blade as he looked around. He saw one of their soldiers die. And another. And when he saw how a Staraptor attacked Benny in the air he growled ominously, but when one of the Trialcia soldiers kicked Kim and he heard her cry of pain, he let out an enraged cry and stormed to the soldier. He threw his sword away and repeatedly hit and kicked the soldier, until he didn’t move anymore. With another cry he grabbed his sword again and swung it around, without really looking who he swung at.

“Careful!” Andrus warned his soldier. “Don’t get caught in Bear’s rage.”

“Do we stop him?” Trevor asked.

Andrus looked at Bear for a moment and shook his head. “No, let him rage. We just have to be careful. I’ll make sure to stay close and knock some sense into him if he’ll get too dangerous for us.”

Eventually Bear’s rage was brought to an end by a Machamp, who used one of its arms to hit him in the belly and as he sank to his knees the Machamp hit him on the head with the handle of one of its swords. Before it could finish Bear off, Benny tackled the four-armed fighting type and as it turned around to hit him instead, his antennas started glowing purple and he released a Psy Beam from up close. The Machamp stumbled back, tripped over Bear and was finished off by another soldier.

The Graveler that had been stunned started to shake off the effect and began moving again, but Benny returned after a whistled signal from Steve and covered them in Stun Spore. He knew just as Steve did that if they would roll through their ranks, the fight could easily turn in the Trialcia’s advantage.

“Thanks Benny,” Steve said. “I’ll keep an eye on them.”

The Butterfree nodded to him and turned around to go back to the battle and see what he could do there.

 

As the battle for the fortress progressed, Andrus and his soldiers drove the enemy back further and diminished their forces. Eventually a sign to retreat was given, without water types in their ranks and the rock types incapacitated they didn’t have a proper defence against the fire Pokémon. The combined forces of the soldiers and the fire brigade, aided with the strong Primeape and three winged Pokémon who assisted from the sky, the Trialcia’s had to admit defeat.

Andrus let out a sigh of relief and allowed a soldier to wrap a bandage around his arm. A look around learned him they had quite some losses too, human and Pokémon alike, but they had won.


	12. Aftermath

The battle at the fortress had come to an end, they were victorious, but it didn’t feel that way. Andrus knew he should be glad it was over, but he knew this was just the beginning of a new war and there were many losses. They had won, yes. People had survived and the fortress still stood, but with a grim future ahead he couldn’t be glad about it. These were just the first of many deaths he would witness. He sighed and not for the first time he understood why Trevor had left the army, but he wouldn’t leave. He had been able to make a difference here and he knew he did a good job leading his men, he had taken the job to defend the country and he would. He send Steve with some soldiers after the Trialcia’s to see what they were up to, if they would regroup or what other surprises they would have for them. Other soldiers took care of the wounded and buried the death, a grim task, but one that had to happen.

As soldiers cleaned up the camp, Andrus began with the sad task of writing the official letters that would inform mothers or wives their son or husband had died on the battlefield. Trevor sat in the room with him and watched him work.

“I’m going home,” Trevor said to him.

“I know,” Andrus replied without looking up. “Will you take a letter back to the grand commander? The other will have arrived by now, but he’ll need an update about the situation.”

“Of course.”

“Thanks for coming, without Bendul the battle wouldn’t have gone as well as it had.”

“That’s probably true,” Trevor agreed. “Do you think you’ll be okay now?”

“You know…” Andrus began with a sigh and he looked up, “if they come here with an army next, their entire army, you’re not going to make a difference. We can’t defend ourselves against that. This was already a tough battle and it was only a part of their army. Maybe it’s for the best if you go home, there’s no reason for you to die with us.”

It was now that Trevor noticed how tired Andrus looked. “I will wait to see what the Trialcia’s will do next,” he decided. “If they decide to come through here with their army I’ll stay at your side and fight with you. I can’t leave you behind.”

A smile broke through on Andrus’ face, the first since their victory. A smile that Trevor returned.

 

While the Trialcia army did move forward to invade the country, they moved in north from them. Andrus remained at the fortress and awaited further orders, he didn’t have enough men to try and stop the army, so he didn’t send them on a foolish suicide mission. If they could even catch up with them anyway.

Trevor said goodbye to both Andrus and Steve, who now had the uniform of a second commander. It was a promotion Trevor agreed with and he was certain Steve would be a first commander before this new war was over. Andrus embraced him and thanked him for the assistance once more.

 

After bringing both the update from Andrus and the letters for the families of the dead soldiers, Trevor returned home. He had talked briefly with the grand commander and he had asked if he wanted to join them, but he had refused.

Bendul landed on the grass in front of the small house and Trevor got down from his back. Without a word to either Pokémon he walked back to the house.

 _“So, is the war over?”_ Kiri asked Bendul.

 _“No, the war is just beginning,”_ Bendul replied.

_“Then why are we here? Aren’t we supposed to help?”_

Bendul looked at the house Trevor had disappeared in. “ _War is something we had left behind us. We only went to Andrus because he’s a friend of Trevor and because Andrus didn’t have anyone else who could help him. Trevor decided we have fought enough and I agree.”_ He lay down in the grass and looked at the sky. After being in a battle it was almost weird to be in a peaceful place like this. _“He will be worried about Andrus, but he has faith in his skills as second major commander.”_

 _“So no more fighting?”_ Kiri asked.

_“Unless the war will come all the way here, or something else happens Trevor can’t ignore, we won’t have to fight anymore.”_

_“Okay!”_ Kiri replied, as cheerful as ever. _“I didn’t really like fighting anyway.”_ She started dancing away to smell some flowers.

 _“No-one does, little one,”_ Bendul softly said and he lay down his head. After living through his share of battles with Trevor, he agreed with the decision of his human companion. He closed his eyes for a nap.

 

Elsewhere in the country the war was just beginning. As Andrus had reported, the Trialcia army had attacked all the fortresses along the eastern border at once, most had fallen, but some had managed to defeat the attackers. And while the Trialcian army had invaded the land successfully, they never reached the capital city where the king resided. The main army had stopped them before they could reach it and they engaged in battle. All the companies who defended the fortresses along the border had been called back to fight. Andrus had lead his men into battle, attacking the Trialcia army from behind with the other surviving companies from the east. Since he was the only surviving second major commander he took command of all the units that were left.

 

It was a war Trevor didn’t bother himself with, but he kept in touch with Andrus. From what he could tell from the letters, all faithfully deliver by Anthony, they seemed to have the upper hand. And as he had predicted, towards the end Steve got a promotion to first commander.

 

After the war Andrus received a medal and a promotion to first major commander. A promotion Trevor felt his friend earned and should have gotten before. He knew it was Andrus’ his own personality that had kept him from promoting, but after this war they couldn’t ignore his skills nor tactical insight, both qualities he admired in the man and qualities that had helped him overlook the less serious aspects of his personality. He didn’t doubt his friend would annoy his follow officers when he would goof around, but that was their problem.

Trevor sat on the bench in front of his house, going with a whetstone over his blade when he heard the footsteps of a horse. When he looked up he saw Andrus coming down from a horse and walk over to him. Benny flew next to him, but flew over to Bendul when he spotted him

“Congratulations,” Trevor said.

“Thanks.” Andrus sat down next to him. “You know, if you ever get bored of this life I can pull some string and have you listed as one of my second major commanders. Get you a nice outpost somewhere along the border. It’s an easy task, nothing ever happens at a fortress.”

Trevor made an amused sound. “No thanks, I’m quite happy with my life.”

“I know you are.”

The friends sat together in silence for a moment.

“Where are Bear and that Furret?”

“Kim,” Andrus reminded him. “They’re both at the barracks, Bear is training other Pokémon in hand-to-hand combat and Kim assists the cook. Oh and Merlin, that Noctowl I talked about, he's usually around.” He paused and looked at Trevor. “You know, as first major commander I’m usually in the capital city. Come and visit some time. We’ll have a drink and we talk about all our heroic battles and how awesome we are.”

Trevor just looked at him.

“Or you’ll drink and I’ll annoy you with telling you how fantastic I am. Like always.”

Trevor sighed, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “I’ll make sure to come and visit,” he promised his friend and he got up. “I’ll pour us a beer, you can start thinking about what you want to brag about while we drink it.” He left the chuckling Andrus at the bench and entered his house, where he tapped two ales from a small barrel. With the ale he walked outside again and sat down next to his friend again. They shared a drink and talked, like they always had.

Life was good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I didn't write out the entire war. But I'm sure Andrus had many fantastic moments he can boast about for years to come.  
> I didn't write it, because Trevor wasn't part of it and Trevor is the main character of this story.


End file.
